There are many benefits of intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to speed up your weight loss. There are several reasons for this which we’ll examine further down. What’s important to note is that intermittent fasting is not like a diet.
This is a method that can be adopted as a lifestyle choice and you’ll stay lean much easier and will not regain the lost weight like so many people do.
Intermittent fasting operates on a simple principle – there is an eating window and a fasting window. The duration of the windows may vary depending on the different types of intermittent fasting out there.
The fundamentals remain the same though. You’re only allowed to eat during the eating window and once the time is up, you’ll not consume any food until the following day when your window reopens.
The most common style of intermittent fasting that thousands of people have adopted has an 8-hour eating window, followed a 16-hour fasting window. During the fasting period, you’re allowed to drink water.
Ideally, when your eating window opens, you should consume most of your calories and carbs at the start of the window, preferably after a workout session. This will boost your metabolic rate and your body will have time to burn off the glucose in your body.
The biggest benefit of intermittent fasting is that it keeps your blood sugar levels stable. This greatly aids in weight loss. Your body is unable to burn fat if it keeps experiencing spikes in the blood sugar levels.
Most people eat throughout the day, and every time they eat something, the body releases insulin. The blood sugar level goes up and the body burns glucose for fuel instead of fat.
When you’re in a fasted state, your body has no choice but to burn the fat stores for fuel. That’s what makes intermittent fasting so potent. It accelerates your weight loss. Of course, you’ll also need to ensure that you’re at a caloric deficit of about 500 to 600 calories.
If your diet is on point, your body will torch the fat faster than you ever thought possible. Thousands of people swear by intermittent fasting and it has been proven to aid in weight loss.
When you’re first starting off with this method, you may wish to have a 10-hour eating window and gradually, reduce the window as your appetite decreases. It can seem torturous to many people when they’re first starting off with intermittent fasting.
By easing into it gradually, you’ll get a feel for it and it will take about 2 to 3 weeks before your body adapts, and you no longer feel hungry during the fasting window.
It goes without saying that even with a fasting plan, you should strive to eat clean and eliminate as much of the poor food choices as you can and replace them with healthier options.
The beauty of intermittent fasting is that it reconnects you to the feeling of hunger. Most people nowadays, treat food as therapy instead of fuel. They eat even if they’re not hungry. That’s exactly why obesity is an epidemic.
Intermittent fasting will bring this unhealthy attitude to an abrupt halt, and you’ll discover what hunger feels like and eat to live instead of live to eat. Once this goal is achieved, your fat will melt off and you’ll reach the body of your dreams.
5 Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Accelerates Weight Loss
1. Lowers inflammation
Inflammation is the leading cause of heart disease and many other health issues. The biggest culprit is sugar and it creeps into many different foods without you even realizing it.
In fact, more people now than ever before are suffering from diabetes or are in the prediabetic stage. Intermittent fasting can reduce inflammation greatly. Since you’re only eating during a short eating window, you’ll not be constantly feeding your body with detrimental foods throughout the day.
As a result, the inflammation in your body will subside. This is very important because when your body is inflamed, it will not burn fat effectively. The cells in your body will not be communicating well with each other due to the inflammation.
Intermittent fasting will set things right and your fat loss will not be sabotaged by an inflamed body.
2. Promotes ketosis and fat loss
If promotes ketosis in the body. Most people have no idea what ketosis is. In simple words, it’s the body tapping into the fat stores for fuel.
The biggest struggle most people face when losing weight is due to something that occurs that they aren’t even aware of. Your body typically burns glucose for fuel. It gets its glucose from the carbs that you consume.
Since people eat from the time they wake to the time they sleep, the body constantly has a supply of glucose to burn for fuel. Even if you exercise and watch your diet, it still uses the glucose in your body first.
When you’re doing intermittent fasting, the 16-hour fasting window will ensure that all glucose and glycogen stores are used up in a few hours. Now, your body has no glucose for the remaining hours until you eat next.
So, it has no choice but to burn its fat stores for fuel. NOW your body is effectively burning fat… and this is why intermittent fasting is so powerful. It gets the body to burn the stubborn fat.
3. Stabilizes blood sugar levels
As mentioned earlier, every time you eat, your body will release insulin. This encourages fat storage and prevents your body from burning fat. Intermittent fasting will ensure that your blood sugar levels are stable… and your body can effectively torch the fat without being set back by insulin spikes.
4. Reduces appetite
Intermittent fasting will reduce your appetite. When you’re fasting for 16 hours a day, your body will adapt and require less food. Maintaining a caloric deficit will become easier and you’ll lose the excess weight faster.
5. Increased energy
Intermittent fasting has been shown to increase energy levels. That’s good news. It means you’ll be able to perform better during your workouts and burn more calories, which translates to higher overall fat loss.
By now, you should be convinced of just how potent intermittent fasting is. Make it a part of your lifestyle and you’ll never look back.
Here are some great books about intermittent fasting.
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The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended
Disclaimer: This website is written by a regular human being. I am not a Health Professional. Please get professional medical advice for your health needs.
Can you suggest a daily schedule for doing this plan?
Hi Mary,
I am sending an Intermittent Fasting tracker in my next email to my subscribers. If you would like that, consider subscribing so I could send that and also a daily schedule for you (I always send my subscribers goodies to look forward to!)